Skin Game

Skin Game, the fifteenth Dresden Files novel, finds Harry Dresden hired out by the Winter Queen Mab to assist Nicodemus Archleone — one of his most dangerous enemies — in robbing the vault of Hades himself. The heist structure allows Butcher to do something different with his ongoing series: assembling a crew of villains and compelling Harry to function within constraints that test his ethics rather than just his power. The Hugo Award reflects a consensus that this is among Butcher's best constructed novels.

James Marsters's narration of the Dresden Files is a series-defining performance. His Harry is distinctly his own creation at this point — the voice, the timing, the physicality that carries through audio. The heist structure plays particularly well in audio, and Marsters's command of the ensemble cast of supernatural antagonists keeps the complex operation legible. At just under sixteen hours the audiobook earns its Hugo recognition.